The fabled land of Agartha awaits your discovery in Esoterica: Hollow Earth! Experience an edge-of-your seat sci-fi adventure that will take you to the depths of the planet, the bad guys nipping at your heels every step of the way! Dazzling art, professional vocal work, and jaw dropping production values will be your companions as you explore underwater caves, a subterranean jungle teeming with bizarre life forms, and the laboratory of an evil genius. Just be careful who you trust.

Customer Reviews

Esoterica: Hollow Earth
3.5
5
26
26

Great "Art Deco" Theme Game!
Wow! I was impressed with the art deco 1920-30's graphic art from the beginning. The graphics remind me of old time movies or graphic novels. Hidden object scenes are of high quality. Some of the scenes require interaction. Puzzles uniquely different though not difficult. Puzzles have a skip option which I didn't use since it was more fun to solve the puzzles then to skip them. Storyline not uniquely different from so many others -- lost grandfather, find grandfather, but done with a differences. I'm off to purchase the game to finish it. Five thumbs!!!!!
January 7, 2014

Five Stars for an SE game
This game has you playing the granddaughter of a scientist/archaeologist looking for a lost civilization underground. He's being tailed by some suspicious villains. Naturally, you have to save your grandpa!
Pros:
+ Really nice graphics (minus in the cutscenes). They're sort of cartoony, but in a good way.
+ The main character is likeable.
+ The hidden object scenes are nicely done.
+ Puzzles are interesting, although nothing new there.
+ The voiceovers are kind of corny, but it's funny.
Cons:
- The cutscenes are in a comic book style that might put people off at first.
- There's no map, but you don't really need one.
There are no bells and whistles here, really. However, this is a quality game for a standard edition-only game.
January 7, 2014

Gorgeous Artwork, Very Unique
Although this isn't a particularly challenging game, it is certainly one of the most beautiful. Big Fish has been putting out one fantastic game after another lately and I have been a very happy HOPA player. Because this isn't a CE, we don't have a map or strategy guide, so I did get lost a couple of times. But eventually, I just started enjoying the ride. This has simply beautiful artwork, which, as one other reviewer mentioned, is 20s/30s Art Deco. Good music, enjoyable plot (told from two viewpoints), and certainly worthy of good reviews. Ignore the couple of people who rated this low. It's wonderful.
January 8, 2014

A Nice Change (based on completion of game)
Having just finished a rather dark, grim and gloomy werewolf story (which I also loved), I found this game to be such a treat! The scenes were beautiful, clear and bright. Even the prison laboratory was art deco! The graphics were extremely well-done - they really added so much to the story. Definitely a 10 out of 10! The plot was pretty goofy but it was imaginative and I really enjoyed the way the second scene (with the grandfather) mirrored the first but at an earlier point in time. The music was better than average and not annoying. Most of the mini-games were pretty easy but there were some stumpers in there that I did not manage to figure out even though it seemed as if I had all the ducks in a row - this is where a walk-through would have been welcome. Of course you can skip but you want to know what is the right answer! This was the only negative and did not really detract from the story. I would love to see more games like this.
January 14, 2014

Interesting, Ejoyable, Relaxing Game!
After going through no less than 15 (razzle dazzle 'em) CE games, I settled on just 2 CE and 2 Standard--this little gem and one other which I added as a Current Favorite.
Mama Mia is getting tired of all the glitz. Give me the good old games! How about, just a good game?
Has an interesting story line. Yes, the game is a little dated, but, so am I. Not interested in the bevy of extra colorful games where I have to hunt for objects to pick up. Oh, goody! I found the thousandth pair of scissors! ^_^
Help find this young lady's Grandfather! He is in grave danger and needs our help! A gem to be enjoyed by all age group gamers if you want to relax and not worry about finding 10 objects in 10 seconds or collecting whatever along the way. Just have fun and play the game!
Enjoy! -Mama Mia-
February 17, 2014

It's A Buy For Me
Relaxing, fun and I was surprised at how absolutely beautiful it is to look at.
January 9, 2014

Brillant game
I loved it ... Superb graphics. Only the ending was a bit abrupt. I can only reccomend this game.
January 21, 2014

great
this is really the best location for usefull games for children and adults too
i dont stop play every day when i have free time
January 13, 2014

Esoterica: Hollow Earth
Another biggie and not far off 1GB I love games based on science
January 7, 2014

It?s All In The Tale!
BASED ON DEMO
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
It is clear very early that this game is about the story, first and foremost. As a friend described it, it is like watching (an old) movie, and interacting in parts.
If you are not into story, characters, dialogue, you will probably want to skip this game completely. Because there is much more graphic novel to the game than puzzle or adventure. Outside the story, it is a fairly easy old-fashioned HOPA game with the emphasis on HOPs.
SIGHTS & SOUNDS
This game?s graphics are very pleasant, vibrant and colourful, clear and realistic. While there is nothing astonishing about it, there is also nothing to criticise. It looks good. And it sounds great! The voiceovers are very well done. The young girl?s voice is seriously annoying, but she?s gone as soon as you leave the house.
There is a great deal of dialogue, far more like what you would expect of a RPG or large file game, so it is well that it is good. You can skip it all of course, but then this game has nothing to bring to the table if you do. The music is interesting, upbeat and tuneful. The background noises are sometimes overpowering. *grin*
WHAT?S HAPPENING?
Your grandfather?s another of those crazy scientists who are forever getting kidnapped and you go off to rescue him. But for that, the rest of the story is pure Jules Verne and ?Journey to the Centre of the Earth?. You travel inside the "hollow earth" seeking a lost civilization from the stars.
It is also another art deco, 1920s, throw in a robot, period piece. Still, I forgive the game, because I was totally blown away when I ran out of time. The story is engrossing.
GAMEPLAY
Well, again, remember, it is all pretty old-fashioned and simple, with help if required from a directional hint. There are 2 sorts of HOPs, interactive lists and simple silhouettes (no interaction). And there are a lot of them. Each HOP scene is host to one of each type. There are some nicely simple puzzles, none at all hard at this stage, and some very easy point and click.
There is no map. The journal keeps important information. But sometimes it actually gives you more information you won?t know unless you look at it. For example, you must find parts for an instrument panel. You are not told how many or what they are. In the journal, the missing parts are circled in red.
BLING!
29 collectible gold punch cards. When translated, they tell the story of individual characters, legends and so on to augment the story you get from the many movies, cut scenes and dialogues. Beware! I saw one in a close up window for a puzzle, and waited till I did the puzzle to collect it. No good, puzzle closed, I?m down one card. *sorrowful frown*
If the blurb is correct and there are 40 puzzles and 125 locations, then we are in for a long game indeed, the hour covered maybe a dozen, or 15 locations at the absolute most and only a handful of puzzles.
VERDICT
If you are not into life and death struggles with a superior and devious puzzle creator, and you don?t mind taking a back seat to the players while they take the stage, you will want to give this a try. [I know that for many this game?s size will prohibit a trial. If you have a specific concern about the game, you?ll find me and others who are busy playing the game through right now in the games forum]
As something for a little different, or an afternoon's dawdle, I like this game.
January 7, 2014